Demand for Tesla’s New Home Batteries Totals $800 Million

• May 11, 2015

by Lark Turner

Tesla Powerwall

Tesla’s May 1 announcement of a battery that can be used to power homes has been greeted with “crazy off-the-hook” demand, according to the company CEO Elon Musk.

The Powerwall comes in two versions: A $3,500 battery designed to power a home during an outage, and the other, priced at $3,000, designed to allow homes with solar panels manage daily changes in power supply. The Powerwall could also be used to help homeowners avoid peak power charges by storing energy when costs are low and drawing from the battery when costs are high.

People interested in the batteries have already made reservations worth $800 million in revenue for the company, Bloomberg Business calculated. In total, 38,000 reservations were made for Powerwall home batteries, with the average reservation amounting to somewhere between one and two of the units. Altogether, Bloomberg’s $800 million calculation would nearly equal the amount Tesla made on car sales in the first quarter of 2015. It’s worth noting, though, that the reservations aren’t binding and may overestimate demand.

The commercial version of the battery, called the PowerPack, received 2,500 reservations, with most orders including at least 10 of the units.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/demand_for_teslas_new_home_batteries_totals_800_million/9869